Interview / Arisa: "Sanremo, the week when I feel like a diva"

Arisa returns for the fourth time to the Sanremo Festival. On the last occasion - we were in 2012 - he was very successful, finishing second with The night; this year brings songs to the competition Slowly (the first that passes), written by Arisa herself with the refined singer-songwriter Cristina Donà, e Against the wind. His new album will be released on February 20 If I see you, in which there are hints of soul and gospel, there is pop but also electronics. Arisa is not only a singer but also a television personality, writer, actress and voice actress, all roles she covers with sincere enthusiasm.

Unlike previous times, you come back to Sanremo and you can sing two songs: are you satisfied with this possibility?
A lot, it is a wealth. Two songs do not tell a record, but they certainly give us the opportunity to make known a little more of our work.

Sanremo is…?
The only week of the year in which I feel like a diva. I get excited at the Festival, I feel alive.

How do you tell us If I see you?
It is a record that has two parts, one more intimate and one more pop and radio. There are cheerful passages and others that are very introspective, which take stock of the human being during his journey. One part of the songs has a very direct content, another part is more elaborate and less mainstream, which however can become mainstream: the beauty of popularity is that you can spread something that remains on the corner, despite having great validity. If you feed strawberries, people will say that they are good, but if you add more to the strawberries, you don't necessarily like this too. Because, for example, my mother, my cousin, my aunt, don't have to know who I am Cristina Donà, Giuseppe Dente (so called Giuseppe Peveri, known as Dente, ed.) Or Antonio Di Martino (all authors of the album from the indie world, ed.) ?

Why do you say "my mother, my cousin, my aunt"?
Because music is made for everyone, it is born for everyone. Everyone must have the opportunity to listen to it and buy it. We should lower the price of CDs, but then also of meat: there are things with prices that not everyone can afford. We lower the prices of everything, for everyone. I'm talking about CDs because when I am old I don't think I'll go to download music from the internet or listen to it in streaming: we must also think about those who prefer to buy the CD.

How did your collaboration with Cristina Donà start?
I decided not to include all songs by a single author on the disc, plus Giuseppe Anastasi (former partner of Arisa and his historical author, ed.) It was a bit "as if I had written the songs since we were very close. This time - maybe the next one won't be like that - I chose to look for what I loved and could be mine. I asked Cristina (whom I have respected for a long time) for a song, she wrote me four. This is the first time I sing songs by a woman written especially for me You have a very original vocal and expressive style, and also international, which I like very much.

With the other authors how did it go?
With all of them I lived a little piece of my life. Antonio Di Martino I listen to it for myself when I want to hear Italian music, and the same goes for Giuseppe Dente.

What is the first song that was born?
The first came from Marco Guazzone (he won Sanremo among youngsters in 2012, ed.) A couple of years ago. We were at the Festival and I tried to meet him.

In November you published your second novel, You were everything to me. You dubbed the animated film Despicable Me and, in April, another film to which you lend your voice will arrive at the cinema ...
Very funny, Barry, Gloria and the Disco Worms. It's a Danish cartoon, with very nice graphics - in Northern Europe they are very imaginative from this point of view. It is the story of a group of worms (I would be Gloria) destined for an office life who rebel and manage, with sacrifice, to compose a 70s music band. I like to dub, it's a nice way to use the voice and I found that I have so many colors that I didn't know.